7 Food Delivery Startups to Watch

What's for dinner?

Blue Apron

Chefday!

HelloFresh

Munchery

Plated

PlateJoy

SpoonRocket

Food delivery startups are having a moment and venture capitalists are making big bets on them.

"Part of the reason you’re seeing all these VCs get interested in this is the food industry is not only massive, but like the energy industry, it is terribly broken in terms of its impact on the environment, health, animals," Josh Tetrick, founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based Hampton Creek Foods, a startup making egg alternatives, told The New York Times.

Venture capital firms also have realized that consumers want more sophisticated dining experiences and are willing to pay for them. Here are seven delivery startups trying to disrupt your dinner.

Headquarters: Brooklyn, New York

Funding: $58 million, led by the Stripes Group

The pitch: The tagline "A better way to cook" sums it up best. Up until this past spring, Blue Apron offered only vegetarian or meat eater boxes. Now it offers kosher and pescaterian options, as well. A subscription and three kits a week are required, which translates to about $10 per meal per person.

Headquarters: Brooklyn, New York

Funding: No information available

The pitch: Chefday! promises you need to prepare a meal delivered to your door, with a step-by-step video of the chef who created the dish in action. Kits cost about $17.50 per meal per person. But the recipe selection is reportedly limited.

The pitch: "We recently changed our motto from ‘everything but the chef’ to ‘cooking made easy’ because not everyone aspires to be a chef," HelloFresh chief executive Seth Goldman told WSJ. A recent cash infusion solidified the startup's plans to continue expanding throughout Europe and the western U.S. With a subscription, you'll get three kits a week, which is about $12.50 per meal per person.

Headquarters: San Francisco

Funding: $32 million, led by Sherpa Ventures, with participation from existing investors e.ventures and Menlo Ventures. Actor/director Jon Favreau and Chef Roy Choi, founder of the Kogi BBQ taco truck, also are on board.

The pitch: Kelli Anderson, who designed Munchery's logo, calls it handmade food cooked by local chefs in a kitchen. But its motto, "Eat Better," describes it best: "It can mean eating better in terms of convenience or in terms of better ingredients," says co-founder and CTO Conrad Chu. For a flat $3 delivery fee, users schedule a pre-cooked meal ($8 to $12 each) to come whenever they like, from a few days in advance to a few hours.

The pitch: Plated aspires to be the Warby Parker of food. Browse and choose from seven chef-designed recipes, select your delivery day, and all the ingredients you need arrive fresh to your door. Plates are $12 each, but there's a four-kit minimum.

Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Funding: Nearly $25 million

The pitch: PlateJoy bills itself as "healthy eating for busy people." You tell the company a bit about yourself and your dietary preferences, then it recommends recipes and delivers the ingredients within 24 hours. For now the service is available only in Boston and San Francisco, and at a steep price: A minimum order costs $79.

The pitch: Billed as the "most convenient meal ever," SpoonRocket works simply enough: You order online, receive a two-minute warning call, then receive your food in about 10 minutes. Meal kits range from $6 to $8.